EDITED
Chapter 2
Skinny-Dipping
Paul had a small convertible sports car and because the weather was so nice, he put the top down for the short ride to his place. The wind and road noise tended to discourage much conversation, so Nancy took some time to review the events of the last day in her mind to try and make sense of everything that happened. She felt surprised at herself for having sex with a man she barely knew and equally surprised at how much she enjoyed his attentions. After so many years of little or no sexual activity, she seldom thought of it and no longer missed it - until now. Paul's kindness, humor, wit and easy charm made her enjoy his company. There was no awkwardness about talking to each other about their lives, and she found herself telling him things about herself that she shared with only her closest friends and family. He listened to her with patience and interest, and his responses were far from being condescending or flippant. He actually seemed to take an interest in what she had to say and showed real concern about her. She smiled at herself when she remembered how much she suddenly began thinking about how she looked and what she'd wear when they got out of the shower earlier. She remembered blushing a bit as she decided to wear the same sun dress she'd worn the previous night and also deciding to remain bra-less, something she never did when going out in public.
As he drove, Paul was also thinking of the strange series of events that culminated in making love to a woman he'd just met and who was completely different from the younger "hotties" he was used to dating. Nancy was certainly not a woman whose appearance would warrant a second look; but after talking to her for a few moments, he found her to be engaging, lively, and a lot of fun. The sex wasn't the most exciting that he'd ever had, but from what he gathered, she never had much opportunity to explore that side of life. What she lacked in experience though, she certainly made up for in energy and effort. All of that was part of what he found so intriguing about her and why he found himself enjoying her company so much.
Paul's home was in a small gated community on the outskirts of town. He lived on a cul-de-sac in the last phase of the development and when the property developer went bankrupt from the housing market implosion, the unsold lots remained undeveloped. As they turned into his driveway, Nancy noted that the lots on either side of Paul's home were still heavily wooded and he explained about the developer's problems.
"On the bright side, I don't have to worry about any annoying neighbors or bothering anyone with my activities ", he said.
He showed her inside and gave her a brief tour of the house. It was furnished in a somewhat contemporary style and had a very open room layout. She gave him points for his tasteful decor and noticed that he had a lot of black and white prints in frames along the walls. They were mostly landscape scenes and a couple looked like an eerie winter scene. When she asked about them, he told her they were pictures he had taken a few years ago when he was getting into photography as a hobby. The odd-looking prints she saw were actually photos taken with infrared film which made all the green plant life look white.
"Do you still do much photography?" she asked.
"Every now and then I'll get out and look for something nice to shoot, and I've taken wedding pictures for a couple of my friends. My darkroom is still set up, but these days with digital photography, I only use it for developed IR film", he replied.
At the back of his house was a large sunroom area and a screened-in porch overlooking the salt marsh area the development backed up against. He had a small pool in the backyard as well, and he explained he had just finished opening it up and cleaning it after it was closed for winter. The recent hot weather had gotten the water temperature to a pretty comfortable level, and it was no longer like jumping into an ice bath.
"Maybe later we can go for a swim, if you'd like", he offered.
"That's okay. I don't have a swimsuit to wear and would need to go out to the store and buy one", Nancy said.
"You don't need to wear a swimsuit. I almost never wear one when I go in. With all the trees around here and no neighbors nearby, no one can see what's going on back there anyway."
Nancy just smiled a little and shook her head, but secretly was still intrigued at the thought. As they continued the tour, Paul showed her his office area and the two guest rooms. One of the guest rooms had been converted into an exercise room and he had an impressive collection of dumbbells, a small bench, an elliptical trainer, a couple of fitness balls, and some other pieces scattered around the room.
"Wow! Do you use all this stuff?" she asked.
"I try to work out 3 or 4 times a week, but I hurt my knee playing basketball at the 'Y last month, so I'm still a bit limited on how much I can do."
They finished up in his master bedroom. She was impressed with the size of the room and noticed some kind of frame leaning up against the far wall with a series of straps attached to it.
"What's that thing?" she asked.
With a slight hint of embarrassment he answered, "It's a love swing my ex bought just before she left. I'm not sure why she didn't take it along with all the other stuff, but it pretty much just stands there gathering dust."
